This sounds interesting. It puts the player character in a place where they have plenty of freedom and options in the narrative.

You're not dropping Dare to Dream, are you?

This sounds asoooowme (no really it sounds like a good story and fun to play)

I have to agree. I look forward to your demo.

Hmmmm sounds friggin awesome but I want to know one thing... Can you stage a coúp against the exiled cousin? (like everything goes to hell and then you fix it all up with the coúp)

i like the whispered in fear part >:-)

>:-)

Dare to Dream will definitely not be dropped, I just some time away from it while I still have my sanity intact :P

@Headhunter180 I am not sure if at the end of the cousin's seize for power if there will be any way to 'fix it all up'...he is a descendent but not a direct one, and so it will result in a severely bloody conflict between his supporters and the followers of Taluud. And if the cousin manages to seize power...Hmm it would be difficult to revolt/stage a coup but not impossible I suppose.

I'm glad you guys like the idea. I have been wanting to write a 'super-power' story for quite awhile :)

This sound's awesome.

sounds cool

I vow to selflessly defend the innocent while advanceing my personaly power, all inorder to do good better that is. That I swear to you.

@Cloudian you'd make a wonderful politician lol

lol, yeah except id actually be sincere in what i say.

Sounds fun

Gah!! Excited!!!! :D

Omega I can't wait for the demo.

sounds awesome! I'll definitely want to play this game :)

The Abilities of EMPOWERED:

1) Telekinetic/Telepath: They bare the mark of Ulfrik Nadom, the god of motion (the mark is most often said to resemble the ripple effect in a pond.) Telekinetic/Telepath's are generally regarded as the most powerful of the Descendents, as their ability has almost no limits. While a low level Telekinetic/Telepath might only be able to make a rock jump or hear whispers of others thoughts, a powerful one has the ability to topple a skyscraper with a single thought and take complete control over another persons mind. Said to be the chosen Descendents of Taluud himself, almost every direct descendent of the royal family has been Telekinetic/Telepathic.

2) Super Strength and Flight: They bare the mark of Valdiir, the god of war and sacrifice (the mark resembles two swords crossed in an X). Many (but not all) of the Empowered's who bare the mark of Valdiir follow the Breaking Storm, the 'hero faction' if you will. (The leader of Breaking Storm is Kaluum, regarded as the most powerful Descendent of Valdiir, and proclaimed champion of the just.) As with any other ability, the range of power differs. A low level descendent of Valdiir may only be able to pick up a very heavy box and hover a foot off the ground, a powerful one could juggle semi trucks (though why one would want to do that is beyond me) and fly faster than the speed of sound. Contrary to popular belief, however, they are not invincible.

3) Tech-Kinetic/Electricity Manipulator: They bare the mark of Alizabet, the goddess of energy and life. (Their mark resembles that of a lightning bolt). Where a telekinetic would be able to disassemble an object with their mind, you can look at a piece of technology, know exactly how it works, disassemble it with your mind and then rebuild it and have it work better than ever. Descendents of Alizabet also have the ability to draw energy from power sources in order to heal or even wield electricity as a weapon (skilled Manipulators can even have the electricity take on a solid form, such as a sword...). Tech-Kinetic's/Electricity Manipulators make for excellent hackers.

4) Shape-Shifter: They bare the mark of Kolindor, the god of jest and trickery (interesting things to be a god of, isn't it?) The mark resembles a coiled snake twisted around a clenched fist. Kolindor is known as the Usurper; he rejected Taluud as the God-King and resisted violently against him when Taluud united the seven kingdoms. Descendents of Taluud face even more problems today, as many with this ability turn into subterfuge agents and assassins. Even though those days are mostly behind the Shifters, they still face a lot of prejudice for the crimes of their ancestors. The ability of a Shifter varies, but the average Shifter is able to take the form of any animate or inanimate object just by touching it. They also absorb the memories of the target they are shifting into (if animate....clearly), making them nearly indiscernible from the target they are shifting into.

5) Elemental: They bare the mark of Jin-Yaan, the goddess of balance and nature. (Their mark resembles that of a phoenix). They are able to create, absorb, and wield the powers of fire and ice. This juxtaposition of abilities makes Elementals quite dangerous and unpredictable. While the shocking brute force of their powers is nearly unrivaled, most who bare the mark of Jin-Yaan choose to follow her teachings, removing themselves from society so that they may better peacefully understand their connection with nature. As with any ability though, there are always exceptions to the rule. Balgraan the Stern, the fallen King's cousin, is a powerful Elemental, but uses his abilities to force others into submission and bend to his will.

I'm wondering, will you be able to use all of your abilities, or will you have to rely on some of them only? Because they all sound great to have.

Near the beginning of the game, it will ask which mark you bear, and that will determine which powers you will have in the game. I'm not sure if that answers your question though.

It does.

Hi, @wolfwriter20

This looks promising! Thoroughly enjoyed reading the lore of the marks. I have a question or two about the gameplay elements of those marks.

You can only pick one mark and that locks you in? Setting aside lore, are they "story checks" for choices determining if you can use this power or that power in certain situations? Is it possible to increase the stat, if it's done that way, and at certain milestones, unlock new abilities say at 25, 50, 75 e.t.c? You could even put a vignette that checks whether you've achieved those milestones and have the god in their own way, grant those powers to you so it seems natural instead of yay, new power out of nowhere?

Sorry if I am rambling. Just curious about how you intend to handle this.

Hmmm on the Tech-Kinetic/Electricity manipulators
Cole Freakin' McGrath
The electric man
I'm sooooooo taking the lightning mark

@Marius Yes, you choose one and that will be the powers you have available to you for the whole game. I'm hoping that having the different powers as different playthroughs will warrant quite different journeys each time you play. That is the goal at least.

I do want to make the growth natural. I am plotting out a sequence in which you train with someone who is a master of your mark, and that moves you to level two because he/she teaches you how to control your power. Then maybe the more you use your power, the more adept at it you become. I think this will work well because you never really gain a new power or ability, just become much better at wielding the ones you already have.

@Headhunter180 That's the inFAMOUS guy, right? He definitely came to mind when I was writing about the electricity manipulator :D

@wolfwriter20 And let me guess you were thinking of Kratos when writing Valdiir?

Actually, no. I've never been much of a fan of God of War games (I know, right?? Something must be wrong with me.)

Edit: I was actually thinking more along the lines of Mars/Ares when writing about Valdiir, to be honest.

@wolfwriter20 Oh cool, what about Dante's Inferno? (not the poem the game loosely based on the poem)

all the powers seem awesome I don't know how I would pick

Sign me up for the mark of Valdiir! Here comes the next most powerful Descendent of Valdiir. B-)

@Headhunter180 I've never played it, but it sounds interesting. It would take some getting used to playing as a knight templar.....(pops in Assassins Creed III)

@Fujin I'm glad they sound good :) I wanted to pick powers that people would like that I also am a fan of (which always makes something easier to write about) and also that I think will translate well in the game. I thought about having teleportation and invisibility, but really struggled with how to actively make that a part of the story that could be used frequently. I guess that is why most of the powers come across as more offensive type powers, they can be applied to many situations. But I'm going to try and work other powers in there, not necessarily accessible to the player though.

Woops went on a tangent there. I personally have always been a fan of telekinesis myself, it will be cool to see what people decide as their first playthrough character.

@Cloudian Sounds good to me! I guess the question is will your Descendent follow in the footsteps of Kaluum, or use his strength for less noble purposes.... :)

sounds like an ammazing game, when wll it be up

@wolfwriter20

Will each power be stronger/weaker against another?

Wait so for the energy manipulator is it just shooting lightning out of your hands or will there be more to it like making an electro magnetic field to stop a bullet or sword and all of the powers in infamous? Those were pretty sick.

when will the demo be out

@irule9344 I have a working intro, but there is not a whole lot that happens, so I am holding off on posting the link until I get a little further along. If everything goes well, a demo should be up by this weekend.

@Nocturnal_Stillness I hadn't really intended for one power to be more powerful than another. The only one that would be at a distinct disadvantage in open combat with other Empowered's would be the Shape-Shifter, unless they were powerful enough to take on the abilities of their opponent...but that is a whole other issue. Would it be better if, say, (random example here) telekinetics had an advantage over the strength/flight path but a weakness to Elementals? It could serve to balance the power a little, but I would want to make sure not to take it too far and make the player feel under-powered (you will at some points early on as a level one, but by chapter 3 you are a level 2 and already quite advanced.) Regardless, it is definitely something to consider.

@Syndicate In the beginning you would be able to do little more than shoot a small bolt of lightning from your hands and make peoples hair stick up. But I have planned for by the time you finish the game, an energy manipulator would be able to absorb impressive amounts of electricity, discharge lighting in a way that would make Emperor Palpatine jealous, forge the energy into weapons such as swords that the manipulator can wield, create a sustainable source of energy to power high-tech and powerful items, and much more. Every power is designed to evolve in such a way, that it is weak in the beginning but as you use it and train and progress through the story you become far more powerful.

@wolfwriter20 Do you even need to ask. I've tried my hardest to make a rep for being a cogger who ALWAYS plays his character as a good, honorable guy, so basically always a hero.

Also i have a question, will the energy manipulator be able to forge lightning enchanted weapons or enchant weapons with lightning so that it does lightning damage?

@wolfwriter20

Thanks for answering. It is definitely something to consider. I'd worry about becoming "too powerful" and having little challenging but am glad there are moments that you feel under powered.

@Cloudian I don't really think you will be able to add lightning damage to other weapons/enchant them. There is already a lot that you will be able to do with your electricity though, which will (in time) be more powerful than giving a normal weapon shock damage.

@Nocturnal_Stillness

It should be scaled as the game goes on (that is the goal at least.) Therefore at higher levels, yeah you can totally own any normal or low level Empowered that comes your way, but you will still be going up against people like Balgraan or the Steward or the Hunter/Huntress. They are all extremely powerful Descendents in their own right and more than capable of going toe to toe with you even at higher levels.

@wolfwriter20 First off I can't wait to play this it sounds incredibly fun and I believe the story will be very cool and deep. Second I'm definitely going to play as the tech-kentic/electricity manipulator because I want to be a nerd hero with lighting coming out my fingertips.

That being said my question is depending on your mark will you provide a lot of back-story for the province you hail from?

Next if you are a tech-kentic could you use your powers to invent and control technology to fight for you rather than use your powers and have it be powered by you or energy your body is channeling?

So long as you have the necessary materials available to you, a higher level Tech-Kinetic could build their own machines, etc. (Could be a vehicle, could be some sort of robot that attacks and defends like a companion of sorts, etc.) If it does not have it's own power source, you would be able to channel your energy into it, but it would be incredibly draining and you would not be able to keep that up for long without absorbing energy from another source.

To your other question, the mark itself doesn't necessitate you coming from a certain province. Kalimuun is polytheistic, with one God-King (Taluud) and several lesser Gods and Goddesses. So three Empowereds could come from one province, but all have different marks because they are the 'Descendents' of different Gods.

This will be a amazing game , I prefer shifters, I always play rpg like rogue or assasin. I love be a bad girl :ar! The mark its a snake so it will be a chance of use poison or other subterfugies? It will be usefull to take the power. Shift the personality of somebody in the court , open mm ... Maquiavelian possibilities. I want play this game and hope I can be bad and selfish, not the boring typical good silly hero

@wolfwriter20
Can some provinces produce more (not entirely just most of the time) individuals with a certain mark than others and therefore the province is reflected on that?

For example: one province may produce more people with the mark Alizabet and therefore the province is more technologically advanced than the others. Another province could produce more people with the mark of Valdiir so it is a military province that makes the best warriors. Also a province that produces more people with the mark of Jin-Yaan may be a farming province or a province that contains the most unsettled land due to the elementals ties to nature.

If this is not what you have in mind what kind of backstory do you plan to give the world our character will be a part of?

@MaraJade The snake is more an allegory for the 'trickery' aspect of Shifters, I don't think they would really have poison powers. But I imagine that they have an incredible intelligence, especially if I choose to make it that they retain things they have learned even after they shift back to their normal form. But then that begs the question of how much can a mind take before it breaks? Can the player absorb a limitless amount of information, or does it have a limit? Having a limit would be more challenging to write but would create a certain level of challenge in the role of a shifter. Hmm something to think about. :)

Oh, and you by no means have to be a goody two-shoes, being selfish and wicked is definitely an available path.

@Massgamer, Okay, I see what you are saying. I think that could work quite well, especially if I go with the idea I have that the lesser gods--whose mark you bear--were once the rulers of the provinces before Taluud united them all into Kalimuun. That way, like you said, even though Descendents from different lines will come from the same province, there would be one type that is statistically more likely to come from said province. I think that would work quite well, especially when the provinces begin to secede from the Empire in your characters present time.

@wolfwriter
Does everyone in the game bare a mark if not what is the ratio of marked and unmarked people?

Also do you plan to have factions in the game and if there are will there be an unmarked faction who don't want an empowered ruler?

They will be destroyed.

@MaraJade :L "typical good silly hero" uh?. You looking for trouble, cause heros aren't above holding grudges.

* Mara uses her shifter powers to transform in chuck norris and send Claudian to moon* Never figh with someone who can shift to Chuck Norris

Chuck Norris ain't got sh*t on Cole McGrath, the electric man! (Uses Powers of Cole McGrath to kick MaraJade's (who is disguised as chuck Norris) ass)

@MaraJade That would be true except for theres only one real Chuck Norris and thats Chuck Norris, no one can copy him (and his third fist(located in his beard) ), So ha!

Chuck Norris ass is unafected by electricity its like earth type pokemon :p And touch my avatar its no good idea subdermal poison, like poison ivy * Mara shift in Umma thurman and kiss Cole* :*

And blink to Cloudian, good silly heros dont fight ladies.

@MaraJade
Justice is never sexist!

@Cloudian and @Headhunter180
You have my support against this common enemy of good!